Longfang

by Mark Robson

  ‘It sounds just like the Oracle’s rhyming,’ Nolita observed, a nervous note in her voice. ‘I don’t like the sound of it one bit. There is a resonance here that gives me the horrible feeling it might hold more truth than we would like.’

  A chill had run down Kira’s spine as Conrad read the verse. She agreed with Nolita. This sounded exactly like the Oracle’s rhyming. Their path seemed clear. The Castle of Shadows beckoned, though the invitation to ‘come join us in shadow’ was not one she relished accepting.

  ‘Thank you,’ she said, her mind made up. She gave a slight bow to both Conrad and the young scholar. ‘We must go. The killer has made his intent clear. He does not want us to get to this castle. I suspect I know who is behind the murder, though I do not wish to prejudice any investigation with my own suspicion. The race is on, Nolita. We had better get on our way as quickly as we can.’

  ‘Wait!’ Conrad ordered, his voice taking on the unmistakeable tone of authority. ‘You are not clear of suspicion in this murder. I know I was with you at the time Kalen was discovered, but I judge he was stabbed some time before you joined me in the central area of the main library hall.’

  ‘We ate lunch in the market street just to the west of the main courtyard outside,’ Kira replied. ‘No end of witnesses can testify to the time of our meal and our walk back. The scholars at the door spoke with us as we entered the library on our way to you. Given the interest people took in us, you will find us easy to dismiss as suspects. I’m afraid we can’t wait around for the conclusion to any investigation. Our enemies are here. We must leave, or there will be more death.’

  ‘Is that a threat?’

  ‘No, Conrad. It’s a fact,’ Kira said firmly. ‘Our enemies have shown that they will stop at nothing to prevent us completing our quest. We must go. I can’t communicate with my dragon at the moment and I don’t know why. I’ve got a terrible feeling that unless we get out of here now, all hell will break loose. Trust me, you wouldn’t want that to happen.’

  The old scholar looked her in the eyes. Kira met his gaze with unwavering calm. After a moment he looked away.

  ‘Go,’ he said. ‘I see no evil in you. Go swiftly. When the High Lord’s enforcers get here and see Kalen’s body, things will get very complicated. Ride well, and may justice ride with you.’

  ‘Thank you,’ Kira said, giving another bow. ‘Come, Nolita. Let’s go.’

  Kira set off at such a pace that Nolita almost had to run to keep up. They threaded between the great labyrinth of bookcases, through the central study area and out the other side, following the meridian line overhead. For all her speed, Kira moved with no more noise than a breath of air. She was alert at all times, her head constantly on the move. When they reached the main doors she paused.

  ‘Fang,’ she called silently. ‘Can you hear me?’

  ‘Yes, Kira,’ Fang answered. ‘I’m here.’ His voice sounded distant, as if he were right on the edge of communication range. It also echoed, as it had the night Fang had got them into the night dragon enclave. He was shielding his voice against being heard by other dragons, she realised.

  ‘We need to get out of here. There’s been a murder in the library. I’ve got a feeling that Segun is closing in on us. We need to get away quickly.’

  ‘You’re right about Segun,’ Fang confirmed. ‘Firestorm and I left in a hurry when we sensed Widewing and other night dragons coming. There are three of them in Harkesis. They are at the High Lord’s palace.’

  ‘Why didn’t you warn us?’

  ‘We tried,’ Fang said, sounding guilty about his failure. ‘I shielded Firestorm and we slipped away, but we were never close enough to be able to speak to you. We could not risk coming back to the Grand Library. They would have sensed us for sure. I imagine Segun is expecting us to come back and get you. Let’s not make life easy for him. Meet me down at the beach. And try to make sure you’re not followed. We don’t want night dragons on our tail from the moment we get airborne.’

  ‘Very well. We’ll see you there.’

  Leading Nolita down the great steps, Kira set off across the courtyard in the opposite direction from the beach. She moved at speed, projecting an air of purpose, as if she knew exactly where she was going. Anyone trying to follow would have to move swiftly, too. Kira did not look back. She needed to get out into the streets to start laying traps for anyone who sought to track her.

  ‘Where are we going?’ Nolita asked in a low voice as they reached the cover of the colonnade.

  ‘I’ll tell you in a bit,’ Kira replied, her voice even softer than Nolita’s. ‘First, we need to see if we are being followed. Don’t look back!’ she added quickly, as she sensed Nolita’s head beginning to turn. ‘A good tracker will take precautions to prevent us seeing him.’

  Kira indicated an upcoming exit and Nolita led the way through the archway and out into the street beyond. They emerged into the market street not far from where they had eaten lunch. Kira took the lead again, guiding Nolita to the right and along the length of the line of stalls. She moved effortlessly through the milling people like a fish brushing through fronds of weed on a riverbed, sometimes touching them, but not slowed by their presence. Nolita was not so slick. She bumped into one person after another, apologising for her clumsiness time and again, before they finally reached the last stalls and the clearer street beyond.

  They continued along this street a short way then turned left into a narrow alleyway that led downhill towards the centre of the city. Nolita eyed the dim alley with suspicion. Even in broad daylight it was easy to imagine murderers or thieves lurking in such a place. With a gentle guiding push, Kira steered her in. Rats skittered along the edges of walls and darted into dark corners.

  Kira glanced back along the alleyway as they emerged from it, but nothing was moving. The street contoured around the side of the hill, in both directions. Kira took them right and then turned quickly left down a short side street before turning left again. Ten minutes later she had led them in a convoluted loop, back to the market street outside the Grand Library.

  As they rejoined the crowd, Kira took Nolita gently by the arm and led her across to a stall that was selling cheap jewellery.

  ‘I don’t think anyone is following us,’ she said softly. ‘But I want to make absolutely sure. As a hunter, I don’t appreciate being stalked by someone.’

  ‘I don’t understand,’ Nolita admitted. ‘Why would anyone follow us?’

  ‘Segun’s here,’ Kira said, picking up a wooden necklace and making a show of looking at it. ‘And I’m sure he knows exactly where we are. We’ve not made a secret of our visit.’

  ‘But how did he follow us here?’ Nolita asked, instinctively looking for signs of the night dragons in the sky. ‘Fire didn’t sense them behind us. Did Fang?’

  ‘No,’ Kira said, shaking her head and putting the necklace back on the table. She leaned close to Nolita and continued in a low voice. ‘How he did it is a mystery, but he’s here and we need a way out. He’s unlikely to move openly against us, as the High Lord of the city would be obliged to get involved if he did. Fang explained that the rulers of big cities hold dragonriders in high regard, equal to that of lords and ladies. But whilst we’re here in the city, we’re subject to city laws like everyone else.’

  ‘So who do you think is following us?’ Nolita asked. ‘Not Segun, surely!’

  ‘No. More likely one of his lieutenants – or he may have paid one of the locals to keep an eye on us. If it’s a local, we’re less likely to lose him, but it’ll take him time to report back to Segun. If it’s a rider, he’ll have instant communication through his dragon, which will make things more difficult. Fang is waiting for us at the beach. We need to get down there and away from Harkesis before Segun has a chance to react.’

  ‘How far is it to the beach?’

  ‘About half a league, I think.’ Kira pursed her lips. ‘Far enough to be a problem – look! Try not to stare, but do you recognise that man over by the
pig roast? He looks different without his flying gear on, but I’m sure that’s one of Segun’s riders.’

  Kira continued to make a show of looking at the jewellery while Nolita turned to look up and down the market stalls. She did not let her eyes linger on the man, but her expression changed subtly as soon as she saw him. All remaining doubts in Kira’s mind fled. He was a night dragonrider.

  Kira and Nolita exchanged looks. They both understood the situation instantly. Kira thanked the stallholder for letting her look at his wares and the two girls walked calmly along the street away from Segun’s man.

  ‘What do we do now?’ Nolita muttered.

  ‘Well, as our jaunt through the side streets didn’t lose him, I don’t think we’re likely to shake him off by trying to be clever,’ Kira replied thoughtfully. ‘He probably suspects we’re onto him now, so I think the best thing we can do is . . . run!’

  Chapter Eighteen

  A Tricky Landing

  Elian flinched at Shadow’s hiss of pain. His dragon-bone sword was clumsy and oversized for the delicate task of removing the spears, but he had no choice. Metal knives struggled to cut through dragon flesh. At least the sword did so cleanly.

  ‘Keep going,’ Pell told him. ‘You’re nearly there. Shadow knows you’re not deliberately causing more pain.’

  It was a messy job, and it would get worse. This was the first spear and his hands were slick with Shadow’s blood. They did not have long. The hunters were already in sight, but Elian felt relatively safe for the moment. They had landed high up on a ridge and it would take the hunters some time to reach them.

  The spear came loose with the same horrible wet sucking sound he remembered from the time he had drawn the spear from Fang’s thigh. His stomach turned. He had nothing with which to stem the flow of blood flooding from the hole in Shadow’s side. All he could do was to hope that none of the spears had hit major blood vessels, or the bleeding would not stop. He could not even cauterise the wound.

  ‘Thank you, Elian!’ Pell said, his voice thick with relief. ‘I couldn’t have done that.’

  ‘Have you got any spare cloth, Pell?’ Elian asked, deliberately changing the subject. He had never seen Pell show this sort of emotion and he found it embarrassing.

  Pell thought for a moment. ‘I’ve got some spare clothes in my pack.’

  ‘Grab whatever you’re happy to live without, fold it into a pad and press it over the open wound. You’ll have to wait for the worst of the blood flow to stop. I don’t have any medicinal herbs to help form a clot, so it might take a while.’

  Elian ducked under Shadow’s extended wing and walked back along her body, leaving Pell to scrabble through his pack for something suitable with which to plug the wound. Continuing around her tail, Elian reached the first of the two spears lodged there.

  ‘Shadow either got lucky, or she has tougher scales than you, Ra,’ he observed. ‘Your wounds look a lot deeper than this.’

  The first weapon had not penetrated far through the surface, but it was wedged tight. He moved along to the second. Again the wound looked superficial. The spear he had taken from the underside of Shadow’s wing was by far the worst. Her armoured scales must be weaker there.

  ‘Shadow’s injuries will give her more trouble than mine,’ Aurora said.

  ‘Why? Have you got healing abilities that I don’t know about.’

  ‘Of a sort. Not in the same way that Firestorm heals, but enough that once the spears are out, I will regain my strength quite quickly.’

  ‘That’s a relief,’ Elian admitted. ‘I was worried about how much blood you might lose from five deep wounds. I’ve got no way of sealing them. How much time do I have to work on Shadow? The spears look as if they’re going to be tricky to remove.’

  For the slightest moment, Elian felt as if his mind were soaring out from his body and flying down into the valley below. The sensation stopped abruptly, and he staggered as mind and body reconnected like stretched elastic snapping back to its resting state. He was about to ask Aurora what had happened, but realised he did not need to. The bond between their minds had grown so strong that he often found his thoughts mixing with those of his dragon. Their minds were becoming ever more intertwined. She had mentally reached out to try to find the dragonhunters and had inadvertently taken his mind along for the ride. The sensation had been alien and he had instinctively retreated from it. What if he had relaxed and gone with her? What would that feel like?

  ‘You have about a quarter of an hour before we’ll need to move again,’ Aurora said, interrupting his train of thought and bringing him back to the real world. ‘We’ll just have to keep hopping ahead of them until we can fly more freely. Let’s hope the wound under Shadow’s wing doesn’t restrict her too much, or we may have to start looking for ways to slow the hunters down.’

  ‘Quarter of an hour!’ Elian muttered aloud through gritted teeth. ‘They aren’t giving us much breathing space, are they?’

  Aurora did not answer. Elian knew from her silence that he should focus and get on with what needed to be done. Pell was on the other side of Shadow, so he tilted his head back and called over to him.

  ‘Tell Shadow to brace herself. I’m going to start on the second spear.’

  ‘Go ahead. She’s ready.’ Pell’s voice sounded strained. Elian understood perfectly what he was feeling.

  Elian decided to take out the spear embedded in the thicker part of Shadow’s tail first. Gripping the shaft close to the wound, he tested the weapon’s resistance with a steady pull. He hoped he might be able to just pull it straight out, but after a small initial movement the spear held fast.

  There must be a barb under the scale, he realised. The only way to get it out would be to cut a path for it through the hard surface. The problem was identifying where to cut. The barb could be on any side of the spear – or there might be more than one. The spear tips Elian had found after the previous attacks had all been subtly different. He was kicking himself now for not having taken them away from the meadow and disposed of them. By leaving them where they had fallen, he and his companions had effectively rearmed the hunting party with their original weapons and given them a second chance.

  Elian probed each side of the entry wound with the tip of his sword in an effort to identify the barb. Shadow flinched a couple of times and Elian did not want to imagine what his efforts must feel like. Having explored the wound as best he could, he decided where he needed to cut and sliced through the scale with the tip of the sword. Even though the blade was made of pure dragonbone, the scale resisted his efforts. He was sweating profusely when he finally managed to ease the spear free.

  Moving swiftly to the spear further down Shadow’s tail, he repeated the process. Although trying to be gentle, Elian was aware of the time it was taking. Aurora did not say anything. He could almost feel the hunters getting closer.

  The last spear came loose with unexpected suddenness, taking Elian by surprise. He fell backwards onto the ground, crying out as he fell.

  ‘Are you all right?’ Pell called.

  Elian brushed himself down. He was more shocked than hurt.

  ‘I’m fine,’ he called back. ‘Shadow’s all done.’ He picked up the two spears and ran around Shadow’s tail and under her wing to where Pell was still pressing a large blood-soaked wad of material against her wound. ‘That’ll do, Pell. We need to get out of here. The hunters will be on top of us any minute. Is she able to fly again?’

  ‘She says she can, but I don’t think she’ll be able to fly far,’ he replied.

  ‘Good enough,’ Elian said. ‘Let’s get away. Her other two wounds aren’t serious. They’ll hurt, I’m sure, but they’re not bleeding badly. Come on! Mount up. I don’t want to have to cut more of these out of her hide,’ he added, brandishing the two wicked-looking weapons.

  With a final wave of the spears, Elian broke into a run to cross the short distance to Aurora. But there was one last thing he had to do before they left. Throwin
g the weapons down on the grass, he sliced through each of the long wooden shafts just above the dragonbone tips with his sword. The shafts he left where they lay. The tips, he collected. Sheathing his sword, he slipped his arms through the straps that held the scabbard across his back. A few more long bounding steps and he was scrambling up Aurora’s uninjured foreleg and into his saddle. He tucked the spear tips into his saddlebag and buckled down the cover, barely finishing before Aurora leaped forwards and hurled herself into the sky.

  They set off not a moment too soon. Even as they took to the air, the hunters crested the ridge and launched a volley of weapons. Elian held his breath as they hurled their spears. His heart was thumping, but none came close.

  The hunters shrank to tiny figures in the distance almost before Aurora had settled into a steady flying rhythm. Aurora’s present speed was about three times that of a galloping horse. In theory they should outrun the swiftest of hunters with ease, but in their present state the dragons could only fly for a matter of minutes before they needed to rest. Also, each launch sapped the dragons’ strength more than all the time they spent flying. The acceleration and strength required to get off the ground was tremendous and the strain would be particularly telling on Shadow, whose injury would be tested with every launch.

  Elian looked for her. Force of habit made him look above and to either side, but he eventually spotted Shadow quite a long way below and behind. She was struggling to maintain height and was barely level with the top of the ridge from where they had launched. His stomach tightened. Her wingbeats looked awkward and off balance.

  ‘Can Shadow keep going, Ra?’ he asked, sending his feelings of concern through the bond.

  ‘Not for long,’ she answered. ‘The pain in her right wing is making it impossible for her to fly properly. It’s a miracle she’s airborne at all.’

  ‘What about you? I’m sorry I didn’t have time to care for you straight away, Ra. You know I wanted to.’